Extended Rights Management
User Guide
Manage copyright, licensing, access restrictions, and cultural heritage labels for your archival records.
Workflow Overview
┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ Select │ │ Choose │ │ Set │ │ Apply │
│ Record │ ──▶│ Rights │ ──▶│ Details │ ──▶│ & Save │
│ │ │ Type │ │ │ │ │
│ Find item │ │ Copyright │ │ Dates │ │ Record │
│ to manage │ │ License │ │ Holder │ │ updated │
└──────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────────────┘What Extended Rights Manages
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ EXTENDED RIGHTS │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ 📜 RIGHTS STATEMENTS │
│ Standard copyright status indicators │
│ (In Copyright, No Copyright, Unknown, etc.) │
│ │
│ 🅭 CREATIVE COMMONS │
│ Open licenses for sharing and reuse │
│ (CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, CC0, etc.) │
│ │
│ 🔒 EMBARGO │
│ Temporary access restrictions │
│ (Closed until specific date) │
│ │
│ 🏷️ TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE LABELS │
│ Indigenous community protocols │
│ (TK Labels from Local Contexts) │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘How to Access
Option A: From a Record Option B: From Admin
─────────────────────── ────────────────────
View Archival Description Main Menu
│ │
▼ ▼
Scroll to "Rights" section Admin
│ │
▼ ▼
Click "Add Extended Rights" Rights Dashboard
│ │
▼ ▼
Extended Rights Form Overview of all rightsPart 1: Rights Statements
What Are Rights Statements?
Rights Statements are standardised indicators that tell users what they can do with a digital object.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ RIGHTS STATEMENTS CATEGORIES │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ 🔴 IN COPYRIGHT │
│ ├── In Copyright │
│ ├── In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted │
│ ├── In Copyright - EU Orphan Work │
│ ├── In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted │
│ └── In Copyright - Rights-holder Unlocatable │
│ │
│ 🟢 NO COPYRIGHT │
│ ├── No Copyright - Contractual Restrictions │
│ ├── No Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Only │
│ ├── No Copyright - Other Known Legal Restrictions │
│ └── No Copyright - United States │
│ │
│ 🟡 OTHER │
│ ├── Copyright Not Evaluated │
│ ├── Copyright Undetermined │
│ └── No Known Copyright │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Choosing a Rights Statement
Is copyright status known?
│
┌────────────┴────────────┐
│ │
YES NO
│ │
▼ ▼
Is item in copyright? ┌─────────────┐
│ │ Copyright │
┌────────┴────────┐ │ Not │
│ │ │ Evaluated │
YES NO └─────────────┘
│ │
▼ ▼
┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
│ In │ │ No │
│Copyright │ │Copyright │
│(choose │ │(choose │
│ subtype) │ │ subtype) │
└──────────┘ └──────────┘Part 2: Creative Commons Licenses
Understanding CC Licenses
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ LICENSE │ MEANING │
├────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ │
│ CC0 │ No rights reserved (public domain) │
│ │ Anyone can use for any purpose │
│ │ │
│ CC BY │ Credit must be given │
│ │ Commercial use allowed │
│ │ │
│ CC BY-SA │ Credit + Share alike │
│ │ Derivatives must use same license │
│ │ │
│ CC BY-NC │ Credit + Non-commercial only │
│ │ No commercial use │
│ │ │
│ CC BY-NC-SA │ Credit + Non-commercial + Share alike │
│ │ Strictest open license │
│ │ │
│ CC BY-ND │ Credit + No derivatives │
│ │ Cannot modify or remix │
│ │ │
│ CC BY-NC-ND │ Credit + Non-commercial + No derivatives │
│ │ Most restrictive CC license │
│ │ │
└────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────┘Which License to Choose?
Do you want to allow commercial use?
│
┌─────────┴─────────┐
│ │
YES NO
│ │
▼ ▼
Allow modifications? Allow modifications?
│ │
┌───────┴───────┐ ┌──────┴──────┐
│ │ │ │ │ │
YES SHARE-ALIKE NO YES SA NO
│ │ │ │ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
┌────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌────┐ ┌────┐ ┌────┐ ┌────┐
│BY │ │BY-SA │ │BY- │ │BY- │ │BY- │ │BY- │
│ │ │ │ │ND │ │NC │ │NC- │ │NC- │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │SA │ │ND │
└────┘ └──────┘ └────┘ └────┘ └────┘ └────┘Part 3: Embargo Management
What is an Embargo?
An embargo restricts access to a record until a specific date.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ EMBARGO TIMELINE │
│ │
│ Today Embargo End After Embargo │
│ │ │ │ │
│ ▼ ▼ ▼ │
│ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╋━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━▶ │
│ │ │
│ 🔒 RESTRICTED │ 🔓 OPEN ACCESS │
│ • Hidden from │ • Visible to all │
│ public search │ • Searchable │
│ • Staff access │ • Downloadable │
│ only │ │
│ │ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Setting an Embargo
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SET EMBARGO │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Record: ABC/001/005 - Personal Correspondence │
│ │
│ Embargo Type: [ Time-based ▼] │
│ ┌─────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Time-based │ │
│ │ Death + Years │ │
│ │ Donor Restriction │ │
│ │ Legal Hold │ │
│ └─────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ Start Date: [ 01/01/2020 📅] │
│ │
│ End Date: [ 01/01/2050 📅] ← Access opens │
│ │
│ Reason: [Personal information - 30 year closure___] │
│ │
│ Exceptions: ☐ Allow researcher access with approval │
│ ☐ Allow staff access │
│ ☐ Show metadata only │
│ │
│ [ Cancel ] [ Apply Embargo ] │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Embargo Status Dashboard
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ EMBARGO OVERVIEW │
├──────────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────────┤
│ │ │ │
│ ACTIVE │ EXPIRING SOON │ EXPIRED │
│ EMBARGOES │ (next 90 days) │ (review needed) │
│ │ │ │
│ 47 │ 5 │ 12 │
│ records │ records │ records │
│ │ ⚠️ │ │
│ │ │ │
└──────────────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────────────┘
EXPIRING SOON:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Reference │ Title │ Expires │ Action │
├──────────────┼────────────────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
│ ABC/001/005 │ Smith Letters │ 15 Feb 26 │ [Review] │
│ DEF/003/012 │ Board Minutes 1995 │ 28 Feb 26 │ [Review] │
│ GHI/007/001 │ Personnel File │ 01 Mar 26 │ [Review] │
└──────────────┴────────────────────┴────────────┴───────────┘Part 4: Traditional Knowledge Labels
What Are TK Labels?
TK Labels are designed by indigenous communities to indicate cultural protocols for using traditional knowledge and cultural heritage materials.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TK LABEL CATEGORIES │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ 🔵 PROVENANCE │
│ TK Attribution - Credit this community │
│ TK Family - Family ownership │
│ TK Clan - Clan ownership │
│ │
│ 🟢 PROTOCOLS │
│ TK Community Voice - Community should be consulted │
│ TK Culturally Sensitive - Handle with care │
│ TK Secret/Sacred - Restricted viewing │
│ │
│ 🟡 PERMISSIONS │
│ TK Non-Commercial - No commercial use │
│ TK Verified - Community verified │
│ TK Open to Collaboration - Welcomes engagement │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Applying TK Labels
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ADD TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE LABELS │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Record: ABC/009/003 - Traditional Healing Practices │
│ │
│ Select applicable labels: │
│ │
│ ☑ TK Attribution │
│ Credit: [Ndebele Community Council______________] │
│ │
│ ☑ TK Culturally Sensitive │
│ Note: [Contains sacred ceremonial information__] │
│ │
│ ☑ TK Non-Commercial │
│ Note: [May not be used for commercial purposes_] │
│ │
│ ☐ TK Secret/Sacred │
│ ☐ TK Community Voice Only │
│ ☐ TK Family │
│ │
│ [ Cancel ] [ Apply Labels ] │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Adding Extended Rights to a Record
Complete Workflow
START
│
▼
┌────────────────────────┐
│ View archival record │
│ Click "Edit Rights" │
└───────────┬────────────┘
│
▼
┌────────────────────────┐
│ Select Rights Type │
│ (can choose multiple) │
└───────────┬────────────┘
│
┌─────────┬───────┴───────┬─────────┐
│ │ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
│ Rights │ │Creative │ │ Set │ │ TK │
│Statement│ │Commons │ │Embargo │ │ Labels │
└────┬────┘ └────┬────┘ └────┬────┘ └────┬────┘
│ │ │ │
└─────────┬─┴───────────┴───────────┘
│
▼
┌────────────────────────┐
│ Add Rights Holder │
│ (name, contact, URI) │
└───────────┬────────────┘
│
▼
┌────────────────────────┐
│ Set Dates │
│ • Effective from │
│ • Expires on │
└───────────┬────────────┘
│
▼
┌────────────────────────┐
│ Add Notes │
│ (any special terms) │
└───────────┬────────────┘
│
▼
┌────────────────────────┐
│ SAVE │
└───────────┬────────────┘
│
▼
┌───────────┐
│ COMPLETE │
│ Rights │
│ Applied │
└───────────┘Extended Rights Form
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ EXTENDED RIGHTS [Save] │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Record: ABC/001/012 - Photograph Album 1935 │
│ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ COPYRIGHT STATUS │
│ │
│ Rights Statement: [ In Copyright ▼] │
│ │
│ Creative Commons: [ CC BY-NC (Attribution- ▼] │
│ Non-Commercial) │
│ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ RIGHTS HOLDER │
│ │
│ Name: [Smith Family Trust_________] │
│ Contact: [trust@smithfamily.co.za____] │
│ URI: [___________________________ ] │
│ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ DATES │
│ │
│ Effective From: [ 01/01/1935 📅] │
│ Expires On: [ 01/01/2035 📅] (70 years after) │
│ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ EMBARGO (Optional) │
│ │
│ ☐ Apply embargo End Date: [___________📅] │
│ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ TK LABELS (Optional) │
│ │
│ ☐ TK Attribution ☐ TK Culturally Sensitive │
│ ☐ TK Non-Commercial ☐ TK Secret/Sacred │
│ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ NOTES │
│ │
│ [Permission granted for non-commercial research use. ] │
│ [Contact rights holder for publication permissions. ] │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Rights Display on Record
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📜 RIGHTS INFORMATION │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ 🔴 IN COPYRIGHT │ │
│ │ This item is protected by copyright. │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Rights Holder: Smith Family Trust │ │
│ │ Expires: 01 January 2035 │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ 🅭 CC BY-NC │ │
│ │ Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ You may share and adapt this work for non- │ │
│ │ commercial purposes with attribution. │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ 🏷️ TK ATTRIBUTION │ │
│ │ Credit: Ndebele Community Council │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Please acknowledge the community when using │ │
│ │ this material. │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Quick Reference
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TASK │ HOW TO DO IT │
├────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ Add rights to record │ View record → Edit Rights │
│ View embargo dashboard │ Admin → Rights → Embargoes │
│ Export rights data │ Admin → Rights → Export │
│ Check expiring embargoes │ Admin → Rights → Expiring │
│ Apply TK labels │ Edit Rights → TK Labels tab │
│ Bulk update rights │ Admin → Rights → Batch Update │
└────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┘Tips for Best Practice
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ✓ DO │ ✗ DON'T │
├────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────┤
│ Research copyright status │ Guess at rights status │
│ Record rights holder contact │ Leave holder blank │
│ Set expiry dates │ Use indefinite embargoes │
│ Consult communities for TK │ Apply TK labels alone │
│ Review embargoes regularly │ Forget expiring items │
│ Document your decisions │ Skip the notes field │
└────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┘Part 5: CLI Commands (System Administrators)
For system administrators, the plugin provides command-line tools for automated embargo management.
Automated Embargo Processing
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ EMBARGO:PROCESS - Automated Daily Processing │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Process all (lift expired + send notifications): │
│ $ php symfony embargo:process │
│ │
│ Preview without making changes: │
│ $ php symfony embargo:process --dry-run │
│ │
│ Send notifications only: │
│ $ php symfony embargo:process --notify-only │
│ │
│ Lift expired embargoes only: │
│ $ php symfony embargo:process --lift-only │
│ │
│ Custom warning intervals: │
│ $ php symfony embargo:process --warn-days=14,7,3 │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Cron Setup
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ RECOMMENDED CRON CONFIGURATION │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Run daily at 6am to: │
│ • Automatically lift expired embargoes │
│ • Send expiry warning notifications (30, 7, 1 days) │
│ │
│ Add to crontab: │
│ 0 6 * * * cd /usr/share/nginx/archive && \ │
│ php symfony embargo:process │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Embargo Reports
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ EMBARGO:REPORT - Generate Reports │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Summary statistics: │
│ $ php symfony embargo:report │
│ │
│ List all active embargoes: │
│ $ php symfony embargo:report --active │
│ │
│ List embargoes expiring in N days: │
│ $ php symfony embargo:report --expiring=30 │
│ │
│ List recently lifted embargoes: │
│ $ php symfony embargo:report --lifted --days=7 │
│ │
│ List expired but not lifted: │
│ $ php symfony embargo:report --expired │
│ │
│ Export as CSV: │
│ $ php symfony embargo:report --active --format=csv \ │
│ --output=/tmp/report.csv │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Report Output Example
$ php symfony embargo:report
=== Embargo Status Report ===
Summary Statistics:
Total Active Embargoes: 47
Expiring in 30 days: 5
Expired (not lifted): 12
Lifted (last 30 days): 8
Embargo Types:
Full: 23 (49%)
Metadata Only: 12 (26%)
Digital Only: 8 (17%)
Partial: 4 (8%)
Top Embargo Reasons:
1. Donor Restriction 18
2. Privacy 14
3. Copyright 9
4. Legal 6Troubleshooting
Problem Solution
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Can't find rights option → Check you have edit permission
May need administrator access
Embargo not working → Check start/end dates
Verify record is published
Clear cache
TK labels not showing → Labels may need approval
Check community settings
Rights statement missing → Administrator may need to
enable vocabulary
CC license not in list → Check license is active
Contact administratorNeed Help?
Contact your system administrator if you experience issues.
For more information on standards:
- Rights Statements: https://rightsstatements.org
- Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org
- TK Labels: https://localcontexts.org
Retention Schedule & Disposal Workflow (v1.3.0, May 2026)
This release adds File-Plan-driven retention scheduling and a multi-stage disposal workflow with audit dual-write. Designed for any records-management environment that requires configuration per a published File Plan, automated/manual retention enforcement, and controlled disposal workflows with audit logs — including NARSSA, ISO 15489, PRO Act (UK), NARA (US), and equivalent national archives regimes.
Retention schedules — what they are
A retention schedule is one row in the File Plan. It says, for a given record series:
- How long the record stays active (operational)
- How long it stays dormant (held but not in regular use) after the active period
- What trigger event starts the clock (creation date, file closure, fiscal year end, contract end, employment end)
- What disposal action is taken at the end (destroy, transfer to NARSSA, transfer to another archive, manual review, or permanent retention)
- Which sign-offs are mandatory (records officer is always required; legal and executive are configurable per schedule)
- The legal basis for the schedule (e.g. NARSSA Act 1996 §13(2)(d), PFMA, BCEA + POPIA)
Sample seed schedules shipped on every new install (examples — operators replace these with their organisation's File Plan codes):
| Code | Title | Active | Dormant | Trigger | Disposal | Legal/Exec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COMM-001 | Press releases (general) | 2 y | 3 y | creation_date | destroy | — |
| COMM-002 | Cabinet / executive briefings | 5 y | 25 y | creation_date | transfer_narssa | legal + exec |
| CORP-001 | Annual reports | 5 y | 0 y | creation_date | permanent | exec |
| CORP-002 | Procurement records | 5 y | 7 y | fiscal_year_end | destroy | legal |
| HR-001 | Employee personnel files | 7 y | 30 y | employment_end | destroy | legal |
| LEG-001 | Legal opinions | 5 y | 20 y | creation_date | review | legal + exec |
Operators can add/edit/delete schedules via the rights-admin UI or via RetentionScheduleService programmatically.
Assigning a record to a schedule
When a record reaches archival status (typically on ingest from SharePoint or via the 6-step ingest wizard), an archivist:
- Picks the matching File-Plan code (e.g.
COMM-002) - Supplies the trigger-event date (e.g. file closure date)
- The system calculates
calculated_disposal_due = trigger_event_date + active_period + dormant_period
The assignment is stored in retention_assignment (one per IO). Reassignment to a different schedule is a simple update (idempotent).
Disposal workflow — the sign-off chain
When calculated_disposal_due arrives, the record surfaces in the disposal queue. From there:
- Records officer proposes the disposal action that the schedule prescribes.
- Officer signs → status moves to
officer_signed. Always required. - Legal counsel signs → status moves to
legal_signed. Only whenschedule.requires_legal_signoff = 1. - Executive signs → status moves to
executive_signed. Only whenschedule.requires_executive_signoff = 1. - When every required signature is in, the workflow auto-advances to
approved. - The records officer (or automated job) executes the action — for
transfer_narssa, this generates a NARSSA transfer package viaphp symfony narssa:transfer-package; fordestroy, the record is permanently removed via a separatedisposal:finalizestep.
At any non-terminal stage:
- Reject with a reason → status
rejected. Workflow is over. - Defer with a reason → status
deferred. The next sweep will re-propose.
Audit trail
Every state transition writes one row to ahg_audit_log with action codes:
disposal_proposed, disposal_officer_signed, disposal_legal_signed, disposal_executive_signed, disposal_approved, disposal_executed, disposal_rejected, disposal_deferred.
Every disposal decision is captured with timestamp, user, and the JSON-serialised action_type and any notes — satisfying any records-management framework that requires a controlled disposal audit trail (NARSSA, ISO 15489, NARA, PRO Act, and equivalents). No record can be disposed without a complete sign-off chain visible in the audit log.
Compliance dashboard integration
The new Records Management Compliance: Retention Status & Lifecycle report template (in ahgReportBuilderPlugin) surfaces:
- All records currently assigned to a schedule
- Records due for disposal in the next 12 months
- Disposal workflow pipeline by status
- Approved transfers awaiting NARSSA packaging
That report is part of the Consolidated Quarterly Dashboard template designed for the records management committee.
Part of the AtoM AHG Framework